A Cost-Effective Approach to Fabricate Superhydrophobic Coatings Using Hydrophilic Materials

Superhydrophobic coatings have many important applications and previous studies have shown that both hydrophobic material and certain surface topographical features are required to achieve the desired superhydrophobicity. Here, we report a simple and cost-effective approach to fabricate superhydrophobic coatings using alumina powders, which are intrinsically hydrophilic. The water contact angle (WCA) of the coating is close to 150 degrees and the observed superhydrophobicity has been attributed to both the powder-induced surface topographical features and the airborne hydrocarbon contamination. This work provides a facile yet robust approach to fabricate superhydrophobic coatings, which is potentially applicable for many other hydrophilic materials.